“There is no such thing as society,” Margaret Thatcher said in 1987. The dismantling of the welfare state, careerism, selfishness and lobby renovations. A rabid free-for-all for those with something; a big betrayal for those who would be left with nothing. It ushered in the political predicament we are still mired in today. But there was also a growing sense of community. In England workers took to the streets, in New York there were protests against the cynicism of the government’s response to the AIDS crisis. And for part of the art world, political collective engagement was more important than the market. This issue is about the 80s.